http://arabwomenspring.fidh.net

On 18 January 2011, in Cairo, Asma Mahfouz, a 26-year-old blogger, posted a video on Facebook, calling for a demonstration in Tahrir Square to protest against the Mubarak regime. The next day, in Sana'a, Tawakkol Karman, a 32-year-old activist and journalist, demonstrating in solidarity with the Tunisian people, called on Yemenis to rise up against their corrupt leaders. On 15 February, in Benghazi, mothers, sisters, daughters and widows of men killed in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison in 1996 took to the streets of Benghazi to express their rejection of an oppressive regime. From Tunisia to Bahrain, from Egypt to Syria, women from all backgrounds came out in force to demand the right to democracy, social justice, freedom, dignity and equality. Read on...

20 measures for equality

Although the situation of women varies across the region, threats to their human rights converge. Women are now confronting attempts to exclude them from public life, as well as acts of discrimination and violence, perpetrated with impunity by extremist groups and security forces. At a time when conservative forces appear to be growing in strength, it is vital that steps are taken to establish equal rights between men and women, as the very foundation of democratic societies. The signatory organisations to this appeal call upon national governments and parliaments to implement the following 20 measures for equality...